#ICYMI - Motorcycle Racing: Physics on 2-Wheels
StarTalk Radio
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The Concept of Countersteering in Motorcycle Racing
The concept of Countersteering is counterintuitively, if you are going down the road and you want to turn left, you push on the left handlebar. What is happening is because of the moment of inertia of this heavy mass of a spinning wheel, when you push that direction, it actually flops the bike over to the left. You're not solving Newton's equations and deciding which way to push. That's in your neurons. It's so natural that many people have been riding many years, can't describe it. They have to go on the motorcycle to do itBecause you just do it. The term 'Countersteer' was coined by British motorcyclist David Coul
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